O. Kay Henderson

O. Kay Henderson (born November 3, 1964)

Henderson has been the news director of Radio Iowa for over 20 years and has reported on the Iowa presidential caucuses, including interviewing presidential candidates. Christi Parsons of the Chicago Tribune said that presidential candidates take Henderson "pretty seriously" with Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign, saying, "She's the voice of Iowa". Vietor also said, "If you want to deliver a message and you're not talking to Kay, you're not doing it effectively." National news media consider Henderson to be an Iowa political authority. She is the Iowa Capitol press corps dean and has been an Iowa Press guest panelist.

Personal life Henderson was born on November 3, 1964, the day of the 1964 United States presidential election in which Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in a landslide; her father had spent the day counting ballots as an election judge and her mother voted from her hospital room. Her parents allowed her siblings to name her, and "Onette Kay," or "Okay," was chosen. Her father, Guy Henderson, worked for the Farm Bureau. Henderson attended Iowa State University.